D-Day landings in Normandy: 70 years apart – Revisiting the Great War

Updated on May 29, 2014 1:01 pm

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On June 6, 1944, allied soldiers descended on the beaches of Normandy for D-Day - an operation that turned the tide of the Second World War against the Nazis, marking the beginning of the end of the conflict.

The 2nd Battalion U.S. Army Rangers, tasked with capturing the German heavy coastal defence battery at Pointe du Hoc to the west of the D-Day landing zone of Omaha Beach, march to their landing craft in Weymouth, England, on June 5, 1944. (Source: Reuters)

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Tourists walk along the beach-front in the Dorset holiday town of Weymouth, England. (Source: Reuters)

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Youths hike up a hill past an old German bunker overlooking the former D-Day landing zone of Omaha Beach near Colleville sur Mer, France, August 23, 2013. (Source: Reuters)

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German prisoners of war march along Juno Beach landing area to a ship taking them to England, after they were captured by Canadian troops at Bernieres Sur Mer, France on June 6, 1944. (Source: Reuters)

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A tourist sunbathes on a former Juno Beach landing area. (Source: Reuters)

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German prisoners of war captured after the D-Day landings in Normandy are guarded by U.S. troops at a camp in Nonant-le-Pin, France, August 21, 1944. (Source: Reuters)

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A farm field remains where German prisoners of war were interned following the D-Day landings in Normandy in Nonant-le-Pin, France, August 24, 3013. (Source: Reuters)

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The body of a dead German soldier lies in the main square of Place Du Marche after the town was taken by U.S. troops who landed at nearby Omaha Beach in Trevieres, France, June 15, 1944. (Source: Reuters)

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Tourists walk across the main square of Place Du Marche near the former D-Day landing zone of Omaha Beach, in Trevieres, France August 23, 2013. (Source: Reuters)

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A Cromwell tank leads a British Army column from the 4th County of London Yeomanry, 7th Armoured Division, inland from Gold Beach after landing on D-Day in Ver-sur-Mer, France, on June 6, 1944. (Source: Reuters)

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A couple walk inland from the former D-Day landing zone of Gold Beach where British forces came ashore in 1944, in Ver-sur-Mer, France August 23, 2013. (Source: Reuters)

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A crashed U.S. fighter plane is seen on the waterfront some time after Canadian forces came ashore on a Juno Beach D-Day landing zone in Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer, France, in June 1944. (Source: Reuters)

Members of an American landing party assist troops whose landing craft was sunk by enemy fire off Omaha beach, near Colleville sur Mer, France June 6, 1944. (Source: Reuters)

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A tourist carries a beach bucket to her child on the former D-Day landing zone of Omaha beach, near Colleville sur Mer, France August 22, 2013. (Source: Reuters)

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U.S. Army troops make a battle plan in a farmyard amid cattle, which were killed by artillery bursts, near the D-Day landing zone of Utah Beach in Les Dunes de Varreville, France, on June 6, 1944. (Source: Reuters)

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Farmer Raymond Bertot, who was 19 when allied troops came ashore in 1944, poses on his property near the former D-Day landing zone of Utah Beach in Les Dunes de Varreville, France, August 21, 2013. (Source: Reuters)

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U.S. Army paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division drive a captured German Kubelwagen on D-Day at the junction of Rue Holgate and RN13 in Carentan, France, June 6, 1944. (Source: Reuters)

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Girls run across the street at the junction of Rue Holgate and RN13 in the Normandy town of Carentan, France, June 21, 2013.

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Canadian troops patrol along the destroyed Rue Saint-Pierre after German forces were dislodged from Caen in July 1944. (Source: Reuters)

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Shoppers walk along the rebuilt Rue Saint-Pierre, which was destroyed following the D-Day landings, in Caen August 23, 2013. (Source: Reuters)

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U.S. Army troops congregate around a signal post used by engineers on the site of a captured German bunker overlooking Omaha Beach after the D-Day landings near Saint Laurent sur Mer June 7, 1944. (Source: Reuters)

U.S. Army soldiers of the 8th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division, move out over the seawall on Utah Beach after coming ashore in front of a concrete wall near La Madeleine, France, June 6, 1944. (Source: Reuters)

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French bathers walk over the remains of a concrete wall on the former Utah Beach D-Day landing zone near La Madeleine, France. (Source: Reuters)

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A U.S. flag lies as a marker on a destroyed bunker two days after the strategic site overlooking D-Day beaches was captured by U.S. Army Rangers at Pointe du Hoc, France, June 8, 1944. (Source: Reuters)

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An Italian tourist views a bunker at a strategic site overlooking the D-Day beaches which had been captured by U.S. Army Rangers at Pointe du Hoc, France, August 22, 2013. (Source: Reuters)